Custom Performance of Identity Essay

Identity comes into being when individuals have an ability to see themselves with the eyes of the community to which they belong. It is a creative, reflective and conscious ability. Identities are acted out in everyday interactions with other people. Performance identity begins when individuals form the perceptions of others. These perceptions affect their communication behavior and make people understand how they are perceived by the society.

The identity performed on a regular basis is impression. It is an affect that is produced depending on feelings, perception and conscience and most of the time it is the first reaction that an individual gets having met the new people. An impression is how individuals want people to perceive them whether they have known each other or not. Impression management is a process of managing verbal and non verbal communication, for example the way you dress to impress the particular group of people or an individual.

It is believed that someone can gain the new information about themselves depending on the way they behave with other individuals and most of the time it is a subconscious gesture.

When it comes to impression, various people are target audiences, it could be people at work, at school, in the church, friends and family.Individuals are judged more by non verbal cues rather than verbal ones. The face, the eyes, the body movement, the way an individual sits, tenseness of the body and the way we talk bring a message to the audience. Verbal cues such as the tone of an individual’s voice or the words one speaks are also very significant. The non verbal cues mentioned above are crucial for one’s impression, since most people judge others by what they see, even before they speak. Therefore, it is very important to give excellent non verbal and verbal cues to improve how people perceive other individuals.

Many people use communication behaviors as a social control over people. We create a perceived image of ourselves on the minds of people and manage their perception. We use communication behaviors to get the specific perceptions from people such as credibility, dominance, liability and personal attractiveness.

Performance of impression differs depending on contexts; when it comes to culture and the way the society dictates the individuals to act, their impression will depend on that, so they will act accordingly. Family is a great pillar of an individual’s behavior, therefore it tends to hold individuals with high regards. Lastly, at work an individual will create an impression of a hard and highly credible worker, depending on who is being impressed, either the boss or a fellow employee.

As we go through our daily lives our bodies serve as a critical performance of identity tool, we use them to form perceptions on other people of ourselves. Both non verbal and verbal communication behaviors are used by individuals to form perceptions, non verbal communication behaviors such as body language and dress code are very essential, especially when forming an impression on a new person. Impressions are made everyday and as it is said, an individual only gets one chance to make a good first impression. Performance of identity is a part of everyday lives, and therefore very important in the individuals’ routine to form a good impression, as this will help them have a good societal and work placing.